The present invention relates to a system and method for producing three-dimensional images. More particularly, to a system and method for producing three-dimensional images of a person""s face and meshing this image with a pre-existing collar forming the back portion of a head.
It has been found that for a variety of reasons it may be desirable to produce a three-dimensional likeness of a human being. One example might be for parents who would like to preserve a three-dimensional likeness of their youngsters as a life-like memento. It has long been the practice to hand make life-like dolls of humans and the present invention is aimed at assisting in modernizing this process.
Several art devices disclose the use of modern equipment in order to take measurements of a human form and reproduce a solid three-dimensional object. One such invention is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,388 issued to Kimbrough, et al. This patent discloses the use of a three-dimensional laser and moving platform in order to take a measurement of a head, process these measurements, and produce a three-dimensional relief of a person""s head. This practice can be rather time consuming and expensive as it measures the entire 360 degree surface of the head and reproduces a relief.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,788 issued to Penberthy, et al. discloses the use of an existing doll having a flat facial section whereby a picture or photograph may be transferred onto this flat portion in order to fill in two-dimensional facial details. This system, although relatively simple and cost effective, does not produce a realistic three-dimensional facial image.
From this discussion, it can be seen that it would be desirable to find a way to quickly and inexpensively produce a three-dimensional relief of a given face and mate this relief with pre-existing features to complete the entire three-dimensional product as desired. This method should require minimal physical hardware and software in order to allow a user to take measurements in almost any setting and either immediately reproduce the three-dimensional replica or reproduce this replica at a later more convenient time.
It is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a method by which a three-dimensional object, such as a human face, can be digitized and stored within a typical computer and which digital image can then be used to produce a replica of that object.
It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide such a method which by design captures only a specified portion of the original object, such as the face portion of a human head, which is then most commonly meshed to a one of a plurality of digitized collars which have a standardized rear surface and that are also stored within the memory of the computer.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide such a method of producing three-dimensional copies of objects that also employs the use of a plurality of standardized rear portions of heads to which the face and collars that are produced by the imaging process can be attached to form a complete copy of a human head.
It is a still further objective of the present invention to employ such a method of construction that uses standardized components in all noncritical areas so that the cost of production can be made as low as possible while still producing an accurate copy of a three-dimensional image such as a human face.
These objectives are accomplished by the use of a three-dimensional imaging system that employs a digitizing scanner, or other three dimensional image capturing system, that is commonly available in the marketplace today. This digitizing scanner is used to digitize an object (in the case of the present invention, a human face) by placing it in front of the object and then rotating around the portions of the object that the user wishes to convert to a digital matrix. This digital matrix is then transferred to a computer where it is stored in a manner that will allow it to be viewed and edited by the use of the present invention as needed. Additionally, the computer also serves to process the digital image into a form that is appropriate to generate a milling program that is required to produce a three-dimensional mold of the original object that was digitized by the use of the scanner. This milling program can then be easily transferred to a milling machine in a form that can be used to produce either a relief, or mold, for the direct production of the three-dimensional object or an image for the production of a mold by an alternative production method.
The most important aspect of the present invention is that the scanner is employed only to digitize a specific area of the object such as the individual characteristics of a human face. These characteristics are generally contained in the most forward third of the human head as a whole and so it is only necessary to digitize that forward third of the head. This is important in that while other three-dimensional imaging systems available today digitize the entire object (in this case most commonly the entire human head), the present invention saves both time and money in that it requires that only the face area be digitized and transferred to the computer.
Once the digitizing process has been completed, the user then employs the computer to manipulate the stored image of the human face. The primary phase of this manipulation process is the meshing of the digitized face with a preexisting digital collar that is stored within the computer. The collar is most commonly stored in a plurality of configurations and sizes so as to provide a number of different bases for the meshing process with the digitized face. This means that for each individual face that is digitized there is a collar that has a shape that closely matches that of the face so that there is very little, if any, distortion of the facial features during the meshing process. Thus, the design of this system enables the user to match an individual face to one of the specific preexisting collars which allows for the production of a mold of the front half of a human head which has a rear surface of standardized proportions.
Once the meshing of the digitized face and collar has been completed, the mold for the front half of the head can be produced. An additional aspect of the mold that is produced in this fashion is that the most rearward surface is configured in a manner and shape that allow it to be easily mated to an existing mold of a standardized back portion of a human head. The rear head molds are configured and designed in much the same manner as the head collars in that there are a plurality of different sizes and shapes designed to fit a specific collar and face type perfectly to produce a complete three-dimensional model of the original human model.
The use of the present invention significantly increases the efficiency of producing three-dimensional copies of human heads because only approximately one third of each finished product of the process must be individually produced while the other two thirds can be mass produced to a plurality of different specifications. The method of production that is described by the present invention is superior to other methods because it greatly reduces costs and speeds up the production of three-dimensional models. Additionally, the present invention uses modern methods of mass production of such models while still retaining the individual characteristics of each face, thus, making such models more affordable to all.